B.C. SPCA investigation of mall sturgeon death opens door to other stressed fish in live tanks

A B.C. SPCA decision to open a file on a sick sturgeon that was eventually euthanized at Bass Pro Shops in Tsawwassen is raising questions about the state of fish in other commercial live tanks and the society’s resources to investigate them.

“I struggle with that, absolutely,” said Shawn Eccles, the B.C. SPCA’s senior manager of cruelty investigations. “I have very limited resources. For our purposes, an ‘animal’ would be any vertebrate, and a fish is certainly a vertebrate.”

Eccles said the B.C. SPCA has budget of $3 million annually for animal-cruelty investigations, employing 30 constables B.C.-wide without government funding. The society received more than 10,000 complaints last year.

When investigating fish cases, constables may rely on the expertise of experts — biologists, veterinarians, and animal behaviourists — when assessing how a fish is being treated, including in research facilities.

“We’re not experts on every animal we see out there,” Eccles said.

Postmedia first reported on the ailing sturgeon, measuring more than a metre in length, which was supposed to be the star attraction of Bass Pro Shops at the new Tsawwassen Mills shopping mall that opened on Oct. 5.

The fish continually swam at an angle with its nose above the surface and was eventually euthanized. The results of tests are pending to determine the cause of its illness.

“This was a fish that was on prominent display and people were concerned,” Eccles said. “It generated a lot of media interest before us getting involved.” The society has the legal authority to “enter a premises where an animal is kept for sale, exhibit or hire to determine if the animal is in distress,” he noted.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of people who think our resources could be better spent going after puppy mills,” he said. “Quite frankly, we could be going full-time after everything. At the end of the day, we respond to complaints we receive.”

Postmedia visited T & T Supermarket — owned by Loblaw Companies Ltd. — in Richmond this week and found a smaller sturgeon exhibiting similar behaviour in a much smaller tank with farmed barramundi — a species from Australia.

T & T regional marketing manager Paul Wong said in response that sturgeon often exhibit that behaviour when introduced to a new tank. Bass Pro Shops said the same thing about its sturgeon several days before it was euthanized.

Wong also noted it is company policy to remove sick fish as soon as possible from tanks, “ideally right away.” He added that freshwater fish are kept in tanks typically at temperatures of 18 to 20 degrees Celsius, and sea water fish at zero to four degrees. Fish are not fed during their time in the tanks.

One day after that conversation, Postmedia revisited the Richmond store and found at least five dead or dying rockfish in a tank. (Dead fish were also observed in the company’s Chinatown store). A sturgeon was not observed at the surface of its tank, but it wasn’t possible to determine whether the sturgeon previously at the surface was still in the tank.

Postmedia also visited Hung Win Seafood in Chinatown and spotted dead tilapia in the live tanks. The eyes of some of the ling cod also seemed to be covered with a fungus.

Justin Henry is general manager of Northern Divine Aquafarms Ltd., a Sechelt company that produces 25 tonnes of sturgeon annually for commercial sale. Caviar is exported around the world and the meat sold in Canada, including the fins as soup and the livers to “creative chefs in some of the high-end restaurants.” The spinal marrow — vesiga, served on the Titanic — is also sold, he said.

Henry noted that sturgeon are known to live in both fresh and saltwater and across a range of temperatures, from the Sacramento River in California to the Nechako River west of Prince George.

He said his company observes that captive sturgeon often rise up the water column as temperatures increase.

“Any changes in the environment will affect any type of fish — different water quality or who else is swimming in the tank,” he added.

On its website, the SPCA notes also that “recreational fishing should only be carried out by the employment of the best possible angling techniques and handling procedures that will minimize stress, together with the use of gear that will cause the least amount of injury and pain.”

Scientific evidence confirms that fish have a stress response and suffer pain, the society states.

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